Safest way for US fiance to visit here for 3 months

I am curious about this, Garry, because I have never had any problems either and we were wondering if those factors, age, profession, etc., came in to play. I would hate to think that they did, but I guess the IO has to somewhat 'judge a book by its cover.'

They do.

Comparing personal experiences about immigration controls is largely meaningless unless all the pertinent details are included.

When I was visiting, I would have been 28 and a PhD student (although they would not have known this).  I'm not outstandingly beautiful or anything, so nothing to work with there!    The one thing that I can think of that may have differentiated me is that I had an old passport with a lot of stamps in it, so clearly I traveled a bit and not just to the UK.

Also, thinking back, I'm not sure how long I said I was staying the time I came for a month.  I arrived mid-Dec, then we went to visit my husband's family in Ireland for a couple of weeks, then came back to the UK for another couple of weeks, so I was back and forth a bit.  Hmm... actually, maybe I flew straight to Ireland-- I still would have gone through immigration at Heathrow, but it may have been a different queue.  I can't remember. 

Perhaps this can help though-- there are some really cheap flights from Boston to Shannon at the moment.  Then your fiance could fly RyanAir or EasyJet into the UK.  She would go through immigration in Ireland and just walk straight through when she arrived here, as Ireland and the UK have some kind of free travel agreement.

My friend here on the IOM got stopped in Dublin last year (Nov) and almost wasn't let thru...and this was her 3rd visit in a year and a bit.....


she won't be allowed in again they told her next time unless she had a fiancee visa.......so they are working on getting that now

How do people get to the point where the immigration officers know that there is a fiance involved?  In my experience, any country you enter asks how long you are staying and whether you are there for business or holiday.  To which I would answer "2 weeks" (or whatever lenght of time) and "holiday."  If they phrase the question something more like "purpose of visit," I would still answer "holiday."  That is usually the end.  Sometimes in Cork they ask me where I am going within Ireland, and I say the name of the town where I will be staying.  Now that I have a spouse settlement visa, they often like to ask me where my husband is, and I explain that he gets to go in the shorter queue, but I never had any further questions when I was traveling alone.

I never was stopped when just coming into visit the UK.  The only time I was stopped was last November when my 8 year old son and I had flown back to the US for two weeks(we have FLR).  Upon our entry back to the UK, the woman asked me if I was really married, where was my husband, why had I left, was I still with my husband, was my marriage having troubles and so forth.  We stood with the IO for about 10 minutes, the last thing she stated was if the marriage ran into trouble, to let immigration know.

I would go with what Lola suggested, that way you are covered and hopefully will have a lovely stay.

ME SHELL - thats the sort of story that worries us!!!!...i mean, if she was visiting her fiance and not planning on getting married on that particular visit then i dont know what the problem was, she was visiting like my fiance will be so we should NOT need a fiance visa. The UKvisa website is very vague about visiting fiances.
Was there any weird circumstances for your friend like garry mentions ? How long did she say she was staying for

MY GF wears a 3carat rock on her finger, the I/O is bound to spot it - i told her not to hide it and be truthfull.

The UKvisa website is very vague about visiting fiances.

Funny you mention that.

I have a formal complaint into UKVisas about that (not for myself but rather as a public advocate).  They sent me email yesterday asking for some more information, and I sent the answers back last night. 

Hopefully we'll see something back from them soon.

ME SHELL - thats the sort of story that worries us!!!!...i mean, if she was visiting her fiance and not planning on getting married on that particular visit then i dont know what the problem was, she was visiting like my fiance will be so we should NOT need a fiance visa. The UKvisa website is very vague about visiting fiances.
Was there any weird circumstances for your friend like garry mentions ? How long did she say she was staying for

MY GF wears a 3carat rock on her finger, the I/O is bound to spot it - i told her not to hide it and be truthfull.

Well my friend does stay for several months at a time.....the first two times up to the 6 month limit...and this time they would only let her in for 3 months....

they are frantically trying to get paper work from his divorce lawyer to say the the divorce will be done in 6 months time as to get her a fiance visa.......

Yes Garry im close to making a complaint too and asking why, when you call the telephone helpline on the ukvisa website, you have to endure a 5 minute recorded announcement listening to some "official" chewing gum who cant really read the script properly who sounds like he wants to go home, only to be told after the announcment the all the operators are busy at the moment please call back later....uuuggggggghhh.

I don't know if this will help anyone here, but I have visited UK many times in the last 4 yrs to see my fiance.  I was held 3 times and questioned about my length of stay and why I was there.  Once I was told by the IO that he didn't think I would return to the US, though I did have a job and return ticket (with proof, btw).  Never given an order or paperwork, just told to return to Birmingham for a return flight in 5 days, which I did.  Have not had a problem since then.  Since I was never given any paperwork or deported etc, on my fiance visa application I am just telling the truth about the experience.  Hopefully, it will not be a hindrence.

Hi suzie, what length of times were you staying for when you got pulled ?

ME SHELL - thats the sort of story that worries us!!!!...i mean, if she was visiting her fiance and not planning on getting married on that particular visit then i dont know what the problem was, she was visiting like my fiance will be so we should NOT need a fiance visa. The UKvisa website is very vague about visiting fiances.
Was there any weird circumstances for your friend like garry mentions ? How long did she say she was staying for

MY GF wears a 3carat rock on her finger, the I/O is bound to spot it - i told her not to hide it and be truthfull.

As much as none of us likes it, some IOs wont care that you say you have no intentions of getting married on 'this' visit....even if you are telling the truth :/  The fact is eventually you plan to be together forever..they may decide you will think you cant bear to be apart any longer and will do whatever it takes.b

Its a double edged sword, you need enough ties to keep you in the US until you are in the UK on a settlement visa (if thats the route you take) but yet you need a good enough reason to be in the UK.

Like someone else mentioned yes they do judge a book by its cover I dont have the greatest circumstances here in the US, I dont have a job, I am getting divorced, have a young son and am young myself...I didnt plan to overstay or settle illegally, but I was denied entry anyway. Because they felt I didnt have enough ties to the US. They decided that no matter what I said I was lying. Is it fair? Not really, but theres nothing I can do about it. We just had to decide what the next step was (we were not engaged at that time) and go from there. At least soon it will all be over for us, I'll be over there on a fiancee visa asap, can wear my ring and not care who sees it, and no ones gonna accuse me of trying to settle illegally

Again I am not trying to rain on anyones parade, some never have problems and then there are those that have nothing but. And theres all kinds of in betweens.

I am going by my own experiences..but even then I have noticed it seems no one can really agree, the airport staff, other IOs, etc all tell me I shouldnt have been denied a visa OR entry, but there was an ECO and an IO that didnt feel that way, and unfortunately they were the ones that mattered.

How do people get to the point where the immigration officers know that there is a fiance involved?  In my experience, any country you enter asks how long you are staying and whether you are there for business or holiday.  To which I would answer "2 weeks" (or whatever lenght of time) and "holiday."  If they phrase the question something more like "purpose of visit," I would still answer "holiday."  That is usually the end.  Sometimes in Cork they ask me where I am going within Ireland, and I say the name of the town where I will be staying.  Now that I have a spouse settlement visa, they often like to ask me where my husband is, and I explain that he gets to go in the shorter queue, but I never had any further questions when I was traveling alone.

Christine, it seems as though some people are told they can't enter again without a fiance visa even if they aren't engaged at the time. The problem arises for many of us when the IO asks who you are staying with. If the name of the person is of the opposite sex that's when all the questioning starts.

Christine, it seems as though some people are told they can't enter again without a fiance visa even if they aren't engaged at the time. The problem arises for many of us when the IO asks who you are staying with. If the name of the person is of the opposite sex that's when all the questioning starts.

You are exactly right...again I know from personal experience. I wasnt engaged and was told the first time to either get a visitor visa or fiancee, and this time they definitely said no way will I get back in w/o a settlement visa (wasnt engaged that visit either, until the day before I left )

When I first came to visit Dale,I just said I was visiting friend,since we weren't in a proper relationship yet. I had a male IO and he let me through no problems, I stayed for a week.  The second time I came I had a return ticket for a week later and told the IO I was visiting my boyfriend,it was a female IO this time and she asked about everything,how we met,how long we been together,my previous trips to the UK,what he does as a living,where he works and etc. And she let me through after about 5 minutes of questioning. However like I said I had a return ticket for a week later but I ended up staying 6 months. This wasn't planned though,I just decided to stay longer before my flight left. Then I left and applied for my fiance visa in the states.

About the 3 month visiting visa. Its only recent that they changed it from 6 months to 3 months. I don't even think it has took place yet,last I remember it wasn't going into effect until spring time.